Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Moderator:kevin

Ciarán12
Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-02-17, 23:17

linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:**) Changed the verbal noun to a finite form - is this the "go" thing you meant? Of course Ciarán's version is a much better translation, but is this still a correct sentence?

Go eclipsis, which before vowels is realised as n, i.e. go n-ullmhaíonn. But the whole thing sounds so awkward to me, I can't be sure it's 100% correct. Something about the sequence of tenses doesn't ring true, but I'm not sure this isn't interference from English.

A note on bhfuil in the previous clause: I would prefer the habitual form, mbíonn. It's more in keeping with the implied recurring nature of the whole sequence of events.


I didn't understand from reading the English that this part was meant to be habitual (given that the whole thing is written in the simple present). If it is, shouldn't the first verb also be in the present habitual "Bíonn ag déanamh" tense? (i.e. Bíonn sé ag teacht ón obair...). I also don't know if replacing a verbal noun structure "chun é a dhéanamh" with a clause with a finite verb "go ndéanann tú..." is possible here, but I may be letting English interfere there (as English wouldn't have a finite verb clause there - " He comes home earlier so that he has enough time to prepare the dinner", not *"He comes home earlier so that he has enough time that he prepares the dinner", unless you used auxiliary verbs - "that he could prepare the dinner"/"that he may prepare the dinner" - and accordingly I wouldn't have a problem with "Bíonn sé ag teacht abhaile ón obair níos luaithe (chun) go mbíonn dóthain ama aige gur féidir leis an dinnéar a dhéanamh".)


linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:***) Ciarán chose the simple present. Is it better? Why?

Chaithfeá sin d'fhiafraí do Chiarán. It's not better or worse, but it does belong to a more literary register. I suspect he was simply following the model of the English.


Well, in the English it's a story told in the present simple. This isn't the normal way to express these things in English in conversation, so why convert it to something more conversational in Irish? Maybe for the next one we should have a dialogue of some kind, so we can practice less literary uses of tenses.

linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:****) I am confused again with the gender to use. My original version has "a hobair", i.e. feminine. Last time we said better agree with the grammatical gender, so I'm making it "a chuid obair" now. Ciarán has "a obair" (looks masc. to me) and "aici" (fem.) Giving up.

Maybe we should simply give her a name and be quit of this nonsense. FWIW, I agree with your version.

mar atá sé--Ciarán had the more idiomatic solution here (mar atá an scéal, though personally I would've gone with a simple cheana (féin).


I realised that that would probably be idiomatically different in Irish, so I looked up how to say it, and the dictionary said "mar atá an scéal" (and I've seen similar uses of "scéal" before, so it seems quite natural. I didn't know about "cheana féin", but I just looked it up and it does look like a better translation.

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-02-17, 23:27

linguoboy wrote:You do understand that there will be questions of yours I won't be able to give you an answer to, don't you?

Sure, if you say that you don't know for sure that's fine with me.

It just felt like you misunderstood my intentions. I'm not insisting on strange constructions for the sake of it, even though one of you already suggested a better alternative, but just because I invested somet thought in the version I originally wrote and (if at all possible) would like to know if and why it's ungrammatical or just unusual. It's knowledge I can use in cases where the construction I misused is actually suppoed to be used.

There are some things they can handle nicely, but you simply don't use them where a verbal noun construction handles the problem just fine.

Which is why I'm not totally happy with this answer as well, as you can probably imagine. But well, I'll just wait until the next chance to use one comes.

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-02-17, 23:32

Ciarán12 wrote:I didn't understand from reading the English that this part was meant to be habitual (given that the whole thing is written in the simple present). If it is, shouldn't the first verb also be in the present habitual "Bíonn ag déanamh" tense?

Good point.

As I say, it's a matter of interpretation, but if the reference were only to this one time, I would've expected simple past, since the events recounted here are prior to the rest of the narration.

Ciarán12 wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:***) Ciarán chose the simple present. Is it better? Why?

Chaithfeá sin d'fhiafraí do Chiarán. It's not better or worse, but it does belong to a more literary register. I suspect he was simply following the model of the English.

Well, in the English it's a story told in the present simple. This isn't the normal way to express these things in English in conversation, so why convert it to something more conversational in Irish? Maybe for the next one we should have a dialogue of some kind, so we can practice less literary uses of tenses.

Feel free to write a dialogue into the narrative.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-02-21, 3:52

kevin wrote:To me it looks like the only way to attack this is really learning words together with several of their forms by heart.

That seems a somewhat dry way to learn, so I'm going to propose a little exercise that will also teach you a useful construction and get you more comfortable with Irish syntax.

So you know that the object of the progressive construction follows the verbal noun in the genitive[*], e.g. Tá sé ag réiteach an dinnéir . And you know that in a passive perfective construction, the logical object is in the nominative, e.g. Tá an dinnéar réitithe aige. Well, there is also a passive progressive construction. As with the passive perfective, the logical object functions as the grammatical subject, but the action expressed is ongoing as opposed to recently completed. It looks like this:

Tá an dinnéar á réiteach aige.

The á[**] represents a coalescence of the possessive adjective and a pronoun (either do or ag). It has the expected effect on the initial consonant of the verbal noun, i.e. lenition if the noun it refers back to is masculine, no change for a feminine, and eclipsis in the plural.

So here's the exercise: Take nouns and verbs you have already learned and practice making sentences using both the active and passive progressive forms. You get practice with a number of things--genitive, mutations, forms of , etc.--and at the end of the day you actually have some sentences you could use in conversation. Let me start you off:

Táimid ag ól caife. < > Tá caife á ól againn.
Tá an athair ag ól beorach. < > Tá beoir á hól ag an athair.
Tá siad ag cócaireacht an éisc. < > Tá an t-iasc á chócaireacht acu.
Táim ag dúnadh an dorais < > __________________________
__________________________ < > Tá na madraí á gcothú aici.



[*] Unless it is (a) indefinite and (b) further qualified, as in the case of Tá sí ag déanamh (a cuid) obair [not *oibre] bhaile.
[**] In some dialects (e.g. Connemara), pronounced--and often written--dhá.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-02-21, 8:57

linguoboy wrote:So you know that the object of the progressive construction follows the verbal noun in the genitive[*], e.g. Tá sé ag réiteach an dinnéir . And you know that in a passive perfective construction, the logical object is in the nominative, e.g. Tá an dinnéar réitithe aige. Well, there is also a passive progressive construction. As with the passive perfective, the logical object functions as the grammatical subject, but the action expressed is ongoing as opposed to recently completed. It looks like this:

Tá an dinnéar á réiteach aige.

The á[**] represents a coalescence of the possessive adjective and a pronoun (either do or ag). It has the expected effect on the initial consonant of the verbal noun, i.e. lenition if the noun it refers back to is masculine, no change for a feminine, and eclipsis in the plural.


I think something else kevin should know here is the structure exemplified by "Tá sé á réiteach" - "He is preparing it".

As far as I understand (and if I'm wrong linguoboy, please weigh in here), there are two continuous formulae;

1. (form of ) + Subject + ag + Verbal Noun + Object (in the Genitive)
E.g. "Tá sé ag réiteach an dinnéir" - "He is preparing the dinner"
2. (form of ) + Subject + do + possessive pronoun (that refers to the Object) + Verbal Noun
E.g. "Tá sé do mo lorg" - "He is looking for me"

"1" is used when the object is a noun, and "2" when the object is a pronoun. When the object of "2" is in the 3rd Person, the possessive pronoun would be "a", leading to the combination "do a" before the Verbal Noun, which coalesces to become "á" or "dhá" as linguoboy said.

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-03-02, 20:02

linguoboy wrote:"The man says nothing (schweigt). He looks abashed[*], but his husband is not looking at him. He has gone back[**] to the cooking. The man notices the dog in the kitchen and it looks hungry. He begins to give it food, but the other man hears that and tells him, "Don't give him anything, I've just fed him."[***] There is nothing for him to do in the kitchen, so he goes into the other room where the child is still watching television. "Didn't I tell you to turn that off?" he says. "You didn't, as a matter of fact," she says."

Waiting until I forgot everything doesn't make the text any easier, so it's about time...

Tá an fear ina thost. Tá dreach náireach air, ach níl a fhear céile ag féachaint air. Tá sé tar éis dul ar ais don chócaráil. [Sorry, ignored you hint here because I didn't understand how it works - this is probably wrong] Tugann an fear an madra sa chistin faoi deara agus tá dealramh ocrach aige. Tosaiónn sé ag tabhairt an bhia dó, ach cloiseann an fear eile sin agus insíonn sé dó: "Ná tabhair aon rud dó, táim tar éis é a chothú." Níl aon rud le déanamh aige sa chistin, agus dá bhrí sin go dtugann sé isteach sa seomra eile cá bhfuil fós an páiste ag féachaint ar an teilifís. "Níor dúirt mé leat múchadh sin?" a deir sé. "Níor dúirt tú, déanta na fírinne" ar sise.

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-03-02, 20:05

Here's mine. I'll look through yours later (and in the meantime maybe linguoboy will stop by and look at them both).

Tá an fear ag fanacht ina thost. Tá dreach náireach air, ach níl a fhear céile ag féachaint air. Tá sé ar ais ag an cócaireacht arís. Tabhair Tugann an fear faoi deara an madra sa chistin agus tá cuma ocrach air.
Tá sé ag tosú bia a thabhairt dó, ach tá an fear eile á chloisteáil agus déir sé “Ná bí ag tabhairt rud ar bith dó, táim tar éis é a chothú.” Níl rud ar bith sa chistin le déanamh aige, mar sin tá sé ag dul iseatch sa seomra eile, áit ina bhfuil an páiste ag féachaint ar an teilifís fós. “Nár dúirt mé leat é a mhúchadh?” ar seisean. “Ní dúirt, déanta na fírinne” ar sise.

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-03-04, 6:45

kevin wrote:Tá an fear ina thost.


I had "Tá an fear ag fanacht ina thost". I think both are okay.

kevin wrote:Tá sé tar éis dul ar ais don chócaráil. [Sorry, ignored you hint here because I didn't understand how it works - this is probably wrong]


Well, linguoboy said:
[**] Use dul i gceann + gen. + arís

I take this to mean that the way he was suggesting you phrase it was "Tá an fear ag dul i gceann an cócáireachta arís" (though I'm not sure as I have never used this expression before). My solution was to calque Irish English and say "He is back at the cooking again", but I'm not sure if this is correct either.

kevin wrote:Tugann an fear an madra sa chistin faoi deara agus tá dealramh ocrach aige.


I'm not entirely sure how the syntax of "tabhair faoi deara" works. My first instinct was to do what you did and split up the verb and the prepositional phrase, but that didn't feel right to me when I looked at it and I couldn't figure it out, so I left the "faoi deara" directly after the verb. I also messed up and wrote "tabhair" originally instead of "tugann" because I'm an idiot :P. "dealramh" is fine ar feadh m'eolais, but I'm not sure if it should be "aige" or "air" (or maybe a different preposition entirely). I used "cuma" and "air", which I'm pretty sure is right.

kevin wrote:Tosaiónn sé ag tabhairt an bhia dó


I know you can use "ag déanamh" with the verb "bí" as in "Tá mé ag tabhairt an bia dó", but I'm not sure about "tosaigh". It might have to be "Tósaíonn sé a bheith ag tabhairt an bia dó" or maybe "Tosaíonn sé an bia a thabhairt dó". I'm not really sure.

kevin wrote:, ach cloiseann an fear eile sin agus insíonn sé dó:


Something else I could do with an explanation for: I wouldn't use sin like that, as I think of sin as being exclusively a demonstrative determiner rather than a demonstrative pronoun, so I would say é/í sin for that. I'm not sure if I'm right about that though.

kevin wrote: "Ná tabhair aon rud dó, táim tar éis é a chothú." Níl (1)aon rud le déanamh aige sa chistin, agus (2)dá bhrí sin[u/] (3)[u]go dtugann sé isteach sa seomra eile (4)cá bhfuil (5)fós an páiste ag féachaint ar an teilifís.


(1) - You have "aon rud" I have "rud ar bith". Both ar fine, but I favour "rud ar bith" in negative statements.
(2) - "dá bhrí sin" is fine, I have "mar sin" which I think is slightly less formal/literary, but...
(3) - ... I have seen examples of "dá bhrí sin" with and without "go" afterwards when I Googled it, but I definitely wouldn't have expected "go" to go after it. Maybe linguoboy can tell us something about the difference.
(4) - "cá" is only an interrogative, I have "áit ina bhfuil.." - "(the) place in which..." for that and I think that's better.
(5) - adverbs like "fós" generally go at the end of the clause, and if not at the end then at least after "an páiste".

kevin wrote: "Níor dúirt mé leat múchadh sin?" a deir sé. "Níor dúirt tú, déanta na fírinne" ar sise.


I don't think "Níor dúirt" is grammatical. I think it's an exception to the rule that "níor" is used to negate verbs in the past tense. Also, you wouldn't need the "tú" when answering a a question, e.g. "An bhfuil tú ar meisce?" "Tá" (not "Tá mé")

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-03-04, 9:29

Ciarán12 wrote:Well, linguoboy said:
[**] Use dul i gceann + gen. + arís

I take this to mean that the way he was suggesting you phrase it was "Tá an fear ag dul i gceann an cócáireachta arís" (though I'm not sure as I have never used this expression before).

Yes, I thought it must be something like that, but I couldn't find anything about this expression and I don't like to use things that I don't understand.

I'm not entirely sure how the syntax of "tabhair faoi deara" works. My first instinct was to do what you did and split up the verb and the prepositional phrase, but that didn't feel right to me when I looked at it and I couldn't figure it out, so I left the "faoi deara" directly after the verb.

The examples that I saw all had it split up. I was just unsure whether to put it before or after "sa chistin".

I don't think "Níor dúirt" is grammatical. I think it's an exception to the rule that "níor" is used to negate verbs in the past tense.

What exactly is the exception like? Only when it is with "dúirt"?

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-03-04, 9:38

kevin wrote:
I don't think "Níor dúirt" is grammatical. I think it's an exception to the rule that "níor" is used to negate verbs in the past tense.

What exactly is the exception like? Only when it is with "dúirt"?


"Abair" is an irregular verb. Some others also have "ní" in the past tense - "Bhí mé" - "I was" but "Ní raibh mé" - "I wasn't", "Chuaigh mé" - "I went" but "Ní dheachaigh mé" - "I didn't go".

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-03-04, 13:46

Ciarán12 wrote:I don't think "Níor dúirt" is grammatical.

Similarly, the negative interrogative should be nach ndúirt rather than *nár dúirt.

(Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting any corrections yet; it's been a busy weekend.)
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-03-04, 22:34

Go bhfóire Dia orm, let me see if I can remember how I expected this passage to turn out. I'm going to go full-on Munster with this, so if there's a discrepancy between our versions, it doesn't necessarily mean yours is wrong.
linguoboy wrote:"Tá an fear ina thost. Tá dreach náireach air, ach níl a fhear céile ag féachaint air. Chuaigh sé i gceann na cócaireachta arís. Tugann an fear fé ndeara an gadhar sa chistin agus cuma ocrach air. Tosnaíonn sé ar bia a thúirt do, ach tá an fear eile á chlos agus deir sé leis, "Ná túir pioc do, táim t'réis é a chothú cheana." Níl éinní le déanamh aige sa chistin is mar sin isteach leis sa seomra eile go bhfuil an páiste ag féachaint ar an dteilifís ann fós. "Ná duart leat sin a mhúchadh?" déir sé. "Ní dúraís, déanta na fírinne," déir sí."

Now corrections:
kevin wrote:Tá an fear ina thost. Tá dreach náireach air, ach níl a fhear céile ag féachaint air. Tá sé tar éis dul ar ais doni gceann an chócarála. Tugann an fear an madra sa chistin faoi deara agus tá dealramhcuma[1] ocrach aigeair. Tosaíonn sé agar an bia a thabhairt an bhia dó, ach cloiseann an fear eile sin agus insíonn sé dó: "Ná tabhair aon rud dó, táim tar éis é a chothú." Níl aon rud le déanamh aige sa chistin, agus dá bhrí sin go dtuagann[2] sé isteach sa seomra eile ina bhfuil fós[3] an páiste ag féachaint ar an teilifís. "Níorá ndúirt mé leat sin a mhúchadh sin?" a deir sé. "Níor dúirt tú, déanta na fírinne" ar sisedeir sí[4].

[1] I know I suggested you use dealramh here, but upon consideration cuma is more idiomatic.
[2] tugann "gives" vs tagann "comes" vs téann "goes"
[3] is only acceptable when an indirect question is involved (e.g. "An bhfuil a fhios agat cá bhfuil sí?"). Otherwise you have two options: (1) indirect relative clauses with preposition before (as Ciarán has done) or (2) indirect relative with resumptive conjugated pronoun (which I have used). Both are correct; the former is a bit more literary, the latter a bit more colloquial. Oh, and it sounds better to have fós come at the end.
[4] Some defective verbs can be used in both the past and present, but ar(sa) is only past tense.

Ciarán wrote:Tá an fear ag fanacht ina thost. Tá dreach náireach air, ach níl a fhear céile ag féachaint air. Tá sé ar ais ag an cócaireacht arís. Tabhair Tugann an fear faoi deara an madra sa chistin agus tá cuma ocrach air. Tá sé ag tosú ar bia a thabhairt dó, ach tá an fear eile á chloisteáil agus déir sé “Ná bí ag tabhairt rud ar bith dó, táim tar éis é a chothú.” Níl rud ar bith sa chistin le déanamh aige, mar sin tá sé ag dul isteach sa seomra eile, áit ina bhfuil an páiste ag féachaint ar an teilifís fós. “Nach ndúirt mé leat é a mhúchadh?” ar seiseandéir sé. “Ní dúirt, déanta na fírinne” ar sisedéir sí.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-03-04, 23:10

linguoboy wrote:
Ciarán12 wrote:
kevin wrote:Tosaiónn sé ag tabhairt an bhia dó

I know you can use "ag déanamh" with the verb "bí" as in "Tá mé ag tabhairt an bia dó", but I'm not sure about "tosaigh". It might have to be "Tósaíonn sé a bheith ag tabhairt an bia dó" or maybe "Tosaíonn sé an bia a thabhairt dó". I'm not really sure.

No, the correct idiom is tosaigh ar + VN. [Tosnaigh is a Munster variant.]

I came across mention of this verb in Ó Siadhail last night. He says that there is dialectal variation here with ag being acceptable in Connacht and an ordinary verbal-noun construction in Ulster. So:
  • Tosaíonn sé ar an bia a thabhairt dó. (CO)
  • Tosnaíonn sé ar an bia a thúirt do. (M)
  • Tosaíonn sé ag tabhairt an bhia dó. (C)
  • Toisíonn sé an bia a thóirt dó. (U)
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-04-01, 11:24

Time to dust off this thread and ask a few questions after reading the latest posts in "an duine i mo dhiaidh".

Is fearr leis an nduine i mo dhiaidh a n-éirí go luath gach lá.

Can you say "is fearr" without actually comparing to something else? Does this sentence mean "likes best to get up early", in fact?

Then I thought about how to say "Better than what?" and wondered how do that with a relative clause (if using a relative clause is even the right approach). I can't come up with something much better than "Cad fearr sin ná é", but this feels quite wrong. On the other hand, I can't do it in German either, so maybe the relative clause is just the wrong tool here.

Third question: Let's simplify the question as "An éiríonn tú go luath gach lá?" and I want to answer no. Could I say "Ní éirím", or would that mean that I don't get up at all and I'd have to repeat "Ní éirím go luath"?

User avatar
linguoboy
Posts:25540
Joined:2009-08-25, 15:11
Real Name:Da
Location:Chicago
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby linguoboy » 2013-04-01, 18:00

kevin wrote:Can you say "is fearr" without actually comparing to something else? Does this sentence mean "likes best to get up early", in fact?

It does.

kevin wrote:Then I thought about how to say "Better than what?" and wondered how do that with a relative clause (if using a relative clause is even the right approach). I can't come up with something much better than "Cad fearr sin ná é", but this feels quite wrong. On the other hand, I can't do it in German either, so maybe the relative clause is just the wrong tool here.

I can't think of a snappy way to ask this. The best I can come up with is "Cad é an rud[*] níos fearr ná é sin?"

kevin wrote:Third question: Let's simplify the question as "An éiríonn tú go luath gach lá?" and I want to answer no. Could I say "Ní éirím", or would that mean that I don't get up at all and I'd have to repeat "Ní éirím go luath"?

The verb alone is sufficient. You'd need to qualify it to force a more comprehensive interpretation, i.e. "Ní éirím in aon chor."

[*] In Connacht contracted to céard.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-04-01, 19:13

linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:Can you say "is fearr" without actually comparing to something else? Does this sentence mean "likes best to get up early", in fact?

It does.


Just thought I'd point out here, this is correct though. The idiom for saying "I prefer X" is "Is fearr liom X". You might say "Is maith liom cáca milis, ach is fearr liom seacláid", so the comparative "ná" isn't required grammatically if context tells you what it is. I think the context was sufficient in the sentence "Is fearr leis an duine i mo dhiaidh a bheith ag éirí go luath gach lá (ná a bheith ag éirí go déanach)".

linguoboy wrote:
kevin wrote:Then I thought about how to say "Better than what?" and wondered how do that with a relative clause (if using a relative clause is even the right approach). I can't come up with something much better than "Cad fearr sin ná é", but this feels quite wrong. On the other hand, I can't do it in German either, so maybe the relative clause is just the wrong tool here.

I can't think of a snappy way to ask this. The best I can come up with is "Cad é an rud[*] níos fearr ná é sin?"


I thought of the equally inelegant and probably more ambiguous "Cén sórt comparáide atá i gceist leat?"

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-04-01, 19:36

Ciarán12 wrote:You might say "Is maith liom cáca milis, ach is fearr liom seacláid", so the comparative "ná" isn't required grammatically if context tells you what it is.

Right, that's why I said a comparison in general. At first I was going to write that I expected a "ná", but then I thought of cases like this.

I think the context was sufficient in the sentence "Is fearr leis an duine i mo dhiaidh a bheith ag éirí go luath gach lá (ná a bheith ag éirí go déanach)".

Fair enough. :)

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-05-25, 9:21

Ciarán12 wrote:[flag]en[/flag] I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore I am perfect.
[flag]ga[/flag] Ní duine ar bith mé. Ní foirfe duine ar bith. Mar sin, is foirfe mé.

Does the logic actually work in Irish? Considering that literally you're not negating "anybody" but "I am" now (i.e. "(I am not) anybody" instead of "(I am) nobody"), the conclusion doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Or does Irish work different from what I'm expecting and this does make sense in fact?

Ciarán12

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby Ciarán12 » 2013-05-25, 15:39

kevin wrote:
Ciarán12 wrote:[flag]en[/flag] I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore I am perfect.
[flag]ga[/flag] Ní duine ar bith mé. Ní foirfe duine ar bith. Mar sin, is foirfe mé.

Does the logic actually work in Irish? Considering that literally you're not negating "anybody" but "I am" now (i.e. "(I am not) anybody" instead of "(I am) nobody"), the conclusion doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Or does Irish work different from what I'm expecting and this does make sense in fact?


Nope, it doesn't make any sense in Irish. But plenty of other translations didn't either from what I could tell (the French one, for example, IIRC), so I didn't think it making sense was a necessary criterion. ;)

kevin
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:2134
Joined:2012-03-29, 11:07
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Gaeilge - Caoimhín

Postby kevin » 2013-11-06, 17:54

As you all know, I like to discuss corrections, so here we go. ;)

Ciarán12 wrote:
kevin wrote:Is í an fhadhb (í ná) go bhfuil scríobh na Gaeilge an-mhall dom. Mar sin is fearr liom léamh. ;)


I had é there, because this grammar said that it refers to the go clause rather than to fadhb, and you should use é for such clauses. In fact, now that I had another look at the page, it even explicitly says:
z.B. Is é mo bharúil gonicht *Is í mo bharúil go … Vgl. Deutsch: "Es ist meine Meinung, daß …"


So are these two different cases, or who is right?


Return to “Celtic Languages”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests